Of Pain and Reassurance
by MISSYAlexandra
Summary: After Mary's death of a witness and attack, Marshall helps her pick up the pieces and put herself back together.
1. Chapter 1

Mary slumped back against the ambulance as she waited for the paramedics to "assess" and "make sure she's okay" after the craptastic day she had. She lightly hit her head against the ambulance, once, twice, yep, brain still in there. She looked around and saw Marshall talking to Stan; the only two men in her life she'd really been able to always depend on. Her gaze travelled to the nearby forensic team, the lead forensic investigator pulling a blue plastic sheet over the victim.

The victim. Sophia Applegate, formerly Sophia Newston, all of ten years old was used by her mother, Marie Applegate, Mary's witness, as a human shield. Whatever had possessed Marie to do that was beyond Mary. Hell, she thought Jinx was a bad mother until she met this woman. Obviously being used as a human shield against a group of drug dealers that your mother had swindled wouldn't keep you safe for long, whether you're ten or thirty; that's how Sophia Applegate had spent her last moments on earth.

Mary, feeling defeated, drained and exhausted locked eyes with Marshall over Stan's shoulder and she immediately picked up the concern and worry in him. She watched as he finished his conversation with Stan, remaining cool, calm and collected. He radiated authority and direction; Mary had always admired this in him, no matter how geeky her dork partner was, he was one bad-ass lawman.

Mary closed her eyes, making the world go away if just for awhile, but cracked one eye open like a dozing cat when she felt his presence next to her.

"Hey Doofus" she smiled weakly.

"Hey yourself... have you had that checked out?" asked Marshall, brushing his finger below the angry gash on her cheek.

"Have I had what checked—holy freakin' Jesus that stings!" Mary hissed when she came into contact with the subject of Marshall's query. "No, I haven't, I also have that damn something on my head making it bleed from when I hit the wall" Mary grumbled.

"Mary, what happened there?" asked Marshall.

Mary sat in thoughtful silence as she allowed the memories she'd plugged out of the vicinity of her head come flooding back in. It was like watching a cheap 1920s movie; there were fragments and some sounds, but it wasn't complete. Mary exhaled and was about to retell her nightmare of an evening, when a paramedic interrupted her.

"Marshal Shannon?" the young woman enquired.

"Yeah?" Mary replied.

"We just need to do a quick assessment and then you're free to go" stated the paramedic.

"I'm all yours" sarcastically said Mary, standing up and making her way over to the ambulance, Marshall not missing the wince from the sudden movement.

Surprisingly, Mary let the paramedics clean, treat and bandage all of her injuries without much complaint. They had suggested that she go to hospital overnight just as a precaution, but she wouldn't take any of their 'suggestions', hell, she'd rather chew her own arm off, she'd spent more than enough time in hospitals.

The young female paramedic who first spoke to them, approached Marshall.

"Marshal Marshall Mann?" asked the paramedic, slightly screwing up her face at the absurdity of his title and first name.

Marshall rolled his eyes as politely as he could and extended his hand, which she shook.

"Jessica Haymond. I just have a few concerns about Marshal Shannon, the gash on her cheek is just superficial and should heal nicely over the next week, her head wound is fairly shallow too, however, she does have bruised ribs at the very least and she was knifed by one of the guys on her left arm and hand. I don't think these have hit any nerves, but they'll be very painful for her over the next couple of weeks. We've suggested that she stay in hospital overnight, but she's made it quite clear she's doing nothing of the sort. Which leads me to ask this question... Who's going to be looking after her for the next 48 hours?"

"That'll be me" Marshall said without hesitation, already knowing that Mary would rather be away from the prying eyes of Jinx and Brandi, while in her current state.

"Great, I just need you to sign these" Jessica said, handing Marshall the required paperwork and a pen, which he signed and returned to her. "And she's all good to go now. If you notice anything that doesn't sit well with you, especially if it's out of character, call 911 immediately" warned Jessica.

"Thanks, I will" Marshall smiled politely then headed off to find Mary.

She was still sitting in the ambulance, legs dangling, grumbling about all the fussing the paramedics were doing over her, she was not a three year old with a skun knee.

"Relax, Mare, it's for your own good" called Marshall, laughing at her annoyance.

"Yeah right" muttered Mary. "Come and give me a hand down from here" extending her arms to Marshall, being careful of her left arm and hand, she put her left arm around the back of his neck, then looped her right arm around his front, coming to rest on his shoulder. Marshall put his left arm around her waist and the other under her knees, and lifted her out, settling her back onto the ground.

"Do you think you can walk?" Marshall murmured in her ear, his breath hot on her neck.

Mary gulped. She'd witnessed three shootings and she'd been attacked barely an hour ago, and now Marshall just talking was doing things to her. Incredible things.

"We'll have to find out now, won't we?" Mary managed to get out, hoping her voice sounded relatively normal at the very least.

Marshall kept his arm around her waist, supporting some of her, but giving her the opportunity to pull away if she wanted. That was, until she gasped in pain and leant completely against Marshall.

"Mare? What is it?" asked Marshall, full of concern.

"It's... my... fudging... ribs... I'm okay, I just moved the wrong way" reassured Mary, trying to get the pain under control. Once satisfied, she continued walking to the car with Marshall's support, and climbed into the passenger seat of the GMC.

Marshall began driving in the opposite direction of her house and she was confused.

"Doofus, my house is the other way" said Mary.

"I know it is. We're going to my place, I know you won't want to be around your mother and sister right now" replied Marshall.

Mary rolled her head over on her shoulder to look at Marshall.

"It's times like these I'm glad you live in my head" smiled Mary.


	2. Chapter 2

But Marshall pulled up to his house fifteen minutes, Mary had been silent for most of the trip back, instead, she just sat and stared, observing the scenery as it went by. Marshall grabbed Mary's bag from the back of the truck and walked up to the front door and dug his keys out of his pocket and opened the door. He held the door open for Mary to walk inside.

Marshall relocked the door and checked the locks were catching properly, twice. He turned around to find Mary still standing in the entry, staring off into space.

"Mare?" he tentatively asked.

"Mmmm?" she replied, turning her head to look at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh, just processing. It's been a long day, Marshall" she sighed, smiling sadly.

"I know it has, Mare" he agreed.

"I'm going to take a shower, I can still smell everything on me and I feel gross" decided Mary, heading towards Marshall's bathroom.

"There should be a spare towel in there" he called out, watching her retreat down the hall.

Ten minutes later, Mary emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a fluffy white towel.

"Hey, Marshall, I need help rebandaging my arm, I forgot to wrap it before I got in the shower" said Mary, entering the kitchen where Marshall was preparing food for them, as they hadn't eaten since lunchtime.

Marshall turned at the sound of her voice and drank in her appearance. Her freshly brushed wet hair hung loosely around her shoulders and her towel fell to mid-thigh, giving him an unobstructed view of her toned legs. Marshall gulped.

"Yep, just give me a minute" he managed to squeak out.

Mary screwed her face up at his reaction, and then looked down to take in her sate of dress, more like undress, then recalled his reaction to her outfit for Treena's bridal party, and suddenly it all made sense.

She caught sight of the food Marshall had been making on the bench and went over to investigate it. _Is that just rice? _She thought to herself.

Marshall re-entered the kitchen and put his first aid box on the table and began rummaging for the required supplies.

"Hey Marshall, what's this?" asked Mary, pointing at the food.

"I believe it's what we call rice, Mare" sarcastically replied Marshall.

"I know what rice is, Doofus, but is it just rice or is there a secret, invisible ingredient in it?" she continued her line of questioning.

"It's rice and sugar" replied Marshall, confirming her suspicions of the mysterious, invisible ingredient.

Mary opened her mouth to protest, but Marshall cut her off.

"You'll like it, I promise" he assured her. "If you come over here, I can rebandage your arm now" he said, holding up the bandages for her to see.

For once, Mary complied with his request, and sat on a chair opposite his, putting her arm on the table, unwrapping her soggy bandage, peeling away the protective sticky sheet and gauze to reveal a very angry looking red wound. Marshall sucked in a breath at its appearance.

"Did you have that checked out?" asked Marshall, studying the wound.

"Of course I did, Doofus, what do you think I did while I was there? Baked cookies and supped tea?" snapped Mary. He let it go since he knew she was still depressurising form the stress of the previous day. He took the disinfectant from the first aid box and cotton wool balls.

"This is going to sting" Marshall warned.

"Marshall... do we have to?" whined Mary.

"You know it's for the best" he sympathised.

"Fine, but make it snappy. I don't want this to be slow and painful. She grumbled. Marshall smirked.

He wet the cotton wool balls with the disinfectant and gently applied it t to the wound on Mary's arm, watching as she closed her eyes and screwed up her face in pain at the sting of the ointment. Once he was done, He applied the gauze and attached the sticky sheet to keep it in place, then finally wrapped it. Once he'd finished he allowed his hand to linger on her arm, tracing soothing patterns with his fingertips below the bandage.

Mary cracked an eye open to see what all the touchy feely was about, but didn't say anything, instead she welcomed the comforting feeling of his fingertips, and sighed in contentment, which ultimately brought him out of his reverie.

"The food's going to get cold if we don't eat it soon" Marshall whispered.

"Go take it into the lounge room, I'll be back once I put some clothes on" said Mary, getting up from the table and heading towards the bedroom.

Five minutes later, Mary entered the lounge room dressed in a pair of loose black pyjama pants and a white three quarter pyjama top. She flopped on the couch next to Marshall and put her feet up on the coffee table.

"Thanks" she said, accepting her plate of rice and her spoon from Marshall.

The pair ate in comfortable silence, occasionally making small talk about anything and everything.

Once they'd finished, Marshall took their plates over to the sink to wash later. He returned with a serious expression on his face.

"We need to talk" he told Mary.

"Damn it, I always hoped I'd never hear those words from you" joked Mary, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

He resumed his seat next to Mary, but faced her this time.

"I need to know what happened there tonight" said Marshall in a non-forceful tone.

"Oh boy" said Mary, tucking her legs under herself and tucking her hair behind her ears.

Marshall listened intently as Mary explained how she worked out where the drug dealers were holding their witnesses.

"After I called you, I picked the lock on the front door to get in without being heard. The house was a mess and it had this... sick lavender smell to it, I heard yelling coming from the basement, Marie was there with her hands up and Sophia was hiding behind her leg" recalled Mary. "I must've stepped on a squeaky stair or something, because the next thing I know, I have three guns trained on me. Then Marie, ever the genius, decides to make a break for it. She picks Sophia up, holds her out in front of her and runs for the stairs. Obviously that didn't go well for them, since they ended up with 11 bullets between them" said Mary.

She reached out and ran her finger along the couch, watching as the suede changed as she touched it.

"But what I can't get out of my head, are her screams. I keep hearing "Please don't hurt me, mommy" and "help me". It just plays in my head like a broken record over and over again" whispered Mary.

Marshall reached over and encased her hand with his.

"Then they're lying on the ground, I manage to get a few shots off at the guys, two of them were fatal, but the third was only in the thigh. He was relentless, Marshall, he barely faltered. He ducked to pick up his gun that he dropped just as I fired, and my bullet went over his head. His aim was right on me and I could see his finger about to pull the trigger, then I heard a shot from behind me and the next thing I knew he was on the ground, and it was you" she finished as a few tears slipped down her cheek, her voice becoming quiter.

"I would've died tonight if it wasn't for you" she looked up at him and the tears continued to stream down her face.

Marshall pulled her into his lap, being mindful of her arm as she buried herself into his shoulder and sobbed loudly, starting to let go of the pain of the night. He just held her, rubbed her back in soothing circles and whispered reassurances in her ear until she calmed down.


	3. Chapter 3

After Mary had calmed down, Mary and Marshall just sat there drawing comfort from each other's presence, hearing the soft sounds of the clock ticking in the kitchen, and the wind blowing outside the window. After half an hour, Mary began to grow sleepy and rested her head on Marshall's shoulder, coming extremely close to falling asleep, but she was always jolted back into consciousness.

"Mare, we can go to bed if you're tired" whispered Marshall, only just realising that he said "we" and "bed" in the same sentence.

"Yeah, otherwise I'm going to fall asleep on you and then you'll be stuck there until I wake up, and I don't want you peeing on me" teased Mary, disentangling herself from Marshall and standing up.

"I wouldn't pee on you! Besides, you're not fat" replied Marshall, getting up as well.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that" said Mary, screwing her face up. "Also, I know I'm not fat... just well muscled" said Mary, making a show of flexing her arm muscles. Marshall just rolled his eyes.

"Come on, let's go" said Marshall, heading down the hall with Mary following close by.

Neither of them made any comment or remark about the fact they'd made an unspoken decision to share Marshall's bed tonight, because, well frankly, today was a complete blow. They got ready for bed, used the bathroom, brushed their teeth and climbed into their respective sides. It was as if they'd done it a thousand times before.

They both lay there on their backs for awhile, not talking, simply thinking, until Marshall broke the silence.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.

"Going over it, I guess" replied Mary, pretending to be nonchalant.

"It won't help, Mare. No matter how many times you replay it and tell yourself you could've done it better, it won't change the outcome" said Marshall.

"I know" she whispered, turning her head to look at him. "But it just won't stop" she admitted.

He sighed, reaching over and stroking her cheek.

"Sleep Mary, sleep" he whispered back.

She smiled sadly and turned away from Marshall on her side and began the long process of trying to get to sleep.

After five minutes, the ever so impatient part of her reared its head.

"Marshall... can you..." subtly asked Mary, getting flustered.

Luckily for her, Marshall was acutely tuned into her wants and needs, and she could save herself the embarrassment of having to explain what it was she wanted, or more so needed. He scooted over to her side of the bed, wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her to him and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Time heals all wounds, Mare" he whispered in her ear as she drifted off to sleep.

Marshall, was of course, the first of them to wake up.

He lay still for another second, pretending to be asleep and he felt Mary tense in his arms. What if she'd regret baring her soul last night? Would she just brush it off as a moment of weakness? His inner thoughts rambled to him.

Another moment or two passed and he felt Mary roll out of his arms as she moved to the other side of the bed. Damn, added his inner thoughts.

Marshall was surprised when he saw Mary turn on her side, facing him, the blonde hair that he just ached to touch fell around her face and she was watching him with a puzzled look on her face.

"What's wrong, Mare?" asked Marshall, somewhat worried now.

"Right now? Nothing at all. But in general? Quite a lot of things" she mused.

"This isn't going to go away anytime soon" he added. "The traumatic incident team are going to want to talk to you, and they won't let you back out on the field until all of this... mess... is cleared up"

"Damn Finkle..." grumbled Mary

"I can promise you one thing, Mary" said Marshall seriously.

"And what is that?" asked Mary, trying to keep her tone light.

"As long as my life lets me, I'm not going anywhere, Mare, I'm always going to be here" he promised.

Mary's breath caught in her throat at his confession.

"Good. Because no one has ever given me that and meant it" she replied quietly.

They'd go on to face today, tomorrow, the day after that, next week, next month and next year together, through hail, rain, shine and figurative crap, because it didn't matter what happened, just as long as they had each other as friends, as partners and maybe more.

**A/N: The end! There's going to be a sequel, once school lets me do more than just homework! A huge thank you to everyone who read and reviewed, I love each and every one of you. **


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